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Thread: Maintaining plane bodies

  1. #16
    the rust on the thumb recess is from the sweat of your hand. If it is that important that you have no rust. You can use work gloves when necessary or change the body to bronze planes. It is the nature of wood working and hand planes.

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2021
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    New Jersey
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    Here is what the nice folks at LV said to me:

    What you are seeing is rust. That’s what cast iron will do. The leaflet that came with the plane had maintenance tips.

    Essentially, cast iron should be waxed periodically. If it gets wet in any way it should be waxed. If you get glue on it, it should be cleaned and waxed.
    Any silicone free (furniture grade) wax will do. I like this product: https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop...x?item=05Z1601

    To clean the rust off use paint thinner and either a grey or burgundy abrasive pad or fine steel wool. When clean, let dry, then wax.

    For generally wiping down my machines as well as lubricating moving parts, I like Boeshield T-9: https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop...t?item=56Z8030

  3. All of the techniques described in this thread work, but it's worth mentioning that this is often more of an issue with new planes that people try to keep in pristine, polished condition. Older metal body planes (look at an old Bailey) develop a patina in use that is naturally rust resistant (different from rust proof), similar to bluing. For some hand tools (e.g. knives), people intentionally encourage the development of patina using a variety of methods including vinegar, mustard, etc. I haven't heard about people forcing a patina on hand tools, but I'm sure people do. Planes with a patina can and will rust if water condenses on them, but they are fairly well protected from normal use.

    With that said, I don't know if the chemistry of the ductile iron in modern LV, LN planes precludes developing the same patina that we find in carbon steel and older cast iron.

  4. #19
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    South West Ontario
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    One of my favourite planes, the LV large shoulder plane:
    22980E74-AA2D-4777-8FAB-CEFA6FFD393D.jpg
    You can see the start of rusting despite using the Sellers oil rag can. The other side of the plane has almost nothing:

    A0812783-D695-4630-B73C-15FFC0B764F6.jpg

    Yes I’m right handed:

    DCE76AFF-6003-4F95-B085-622EF5EFE05D.jpg

    The acids in my skin are the culprit. Fine wire wool and oil does nothing, carbide impregnated pad just scratches, the rust stays. Rust ‘remover’ does nothing. The rust gets into the texture of the steel. A mirror polished finish would have far less surface area but perhaps then we would be complaining about pitting!

    Who knows what the eventual patina will be, I do know I won’t be around to see it!
    ​You can do a lot with very little! You can do a little more with a lot!

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
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    SoCal
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    Nothing I have ever treated with CorrosionX HD has ever rusted. Read about it here. https://www.corrosionx.com/search?q=corrosionx+hd Do not treat the fence rods of your skewed rabbet plane with the stuff - the clamps will not hold.

    I got turned onto it about 25 years ago - treated all my salt water fishing gear and that didn't rust either. Still working on the same spray can. I spray some on a rag and use that to wipe the tools with.

  6. #21
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    It seems to be good stuff for stationary steel or steel you don’t handle. If it’s as hard to wash off with a power washer as they claim it won’t come off you hands easily. This almost certainly will cause reactions in some people’s skin. This is why people use Camilla oil or furniture wax for tools they handle frequently.
    I also wonder is some of this gets on the wood you if it would cause finishing problems as it’s so tenacious?
    ​You can do a lot with very little! You can do a little more with a lot!

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
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    Boynton Beach FL
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    I live in south Florida, close to the ocean. Salt air and the sweat on my hands made my saws and LN planes tarnished and corroded. I removed the tarnish with the scotch brite burgundy pads (recommended by LN). Tarnish came back after Jojoba and camellia oil. The answer (for me) came in a call to Starrett. I figured they had more experience due to nautical applications.

    The person I spoke to recommended using petroleum jelly. I used some we had in the house, very thin coat. It worked like magic. I went to BJs and bought 2 large tubs for about $5 and haven't looked back. Whenever I use any of my steel tools (planes, saws, squares, rules, etc.) I apply a thin coat of the vaseline. No rust. ... and it doesn't affect the wood surface.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
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    Hi All,

    Concerning the causes of rust due to finger prints, etc., as mentioned above, both oil from your hands, and salt from sweat can promote rust.

    Salt itself does not cause the rust. However, salt is a little hygroscopic, and will draw small amounts of moisture from the air. The moisture does not cause the rust either, however. What happens is that oxygen from the air will dissolve in the tiny amount of moisture and the moisture helps the oxygen to be in intimate contact with the cast iron, and the oxygen is what actually causes the rust. Also, carbon dioxide from the air will also dissolve to a limited extent in the moisture which then reacts with the water to form carbonic acid which is a mild acid which will also slowly attack steel and cast iron.

    In additions I suspect, but do not know for certain, that the oils from your skin also help hold on to the tiny salt deposits from the sweat, and make it harder to clean off the metal surface.

    One problem is that cast iron is actually a little porous, and thus the rust can occur in microscopic pores on the surface, which makes it harder to get off.

    Thus, getting the finger/hand prints/sweat off is important. If you have caused sweat on the cast iron, you need to get it off. In most cases if the sweat is very mild just "huffing" on the metal to get traces of humidity on the iron will dissolve the salt and get it off with a dry Kleenex. Part of the problem with the salt from your sweat is that when tiny mounts of moisture combine with the salts, and it isn't just sodium chloride, but also calcium chloride and other salts that are far more hygroscopic than is sodium chloride.

    The barely damp salts will form a solution, by pulling moisture from the air, and then not let it evaporate in most conditions, so it continues to do damage.

    At a salt plant where I worked as the quality control and lab manager for the plant, we had a full time painter. He sand blasted things that were small enough to take to the blaster to get down to bare metal prior to painting. In the plant he used only high quality oil base enamel paint and primer. As additives to the primer he would add a little of either oil tar creosote, or actual tar, dissolved in paint thinner. When the primer was painted on the I beams, etc., the paint thinner would eventually evaporate and the creosote or tar would dry and harden as a part of the primer after the solvent evaporated and the primer had cured and remain as part of the primer. The added material would make the primer more moisture proof than the primer alone. However, you could only add a limited amount without creating other problems. Two coats of high quality oil based enamel would go over the primer, and the combination of the tar/creosote, primer, and enamel would protect the steel better than the primer/enamel alone. I believe he learned such from previous generations of painters at the plant.

    The moist salt air around the sea is an insignificant problem for causing rust compared to the fine layers of salt dust that settle everywhere in the salt plant where I worked.

    Great advise of rust prevention in the above sets of comments. I had not thought about petroleum jelly, but will have to think on that some.

    Thanks and regards,

    Stew
    Last edited by Stew Denton; 06-20-2021 at 8:05 PM.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
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    Fairbanks AK
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    Since the thread is bumped anyway...

    Two observations not already mentioned in thread:

    I got jojoba oil at my local hippie store, for more than the LN bottle on the shelf in Maine, but less expensive than the same bottle shipped to me. I dedicated a new prewashed shop rag and a ziploc baggie to the process, so the oil bottle and the rag are inside the ziplock together. I have been happy with the system, by personal sweat doesn't seem to cause corrosion. There were a couple places oin the LN website where I have read corosive sweat is a property some people do have have and other people don't.

    Second, I would be inclined to try waxing stuff if my sweat was corosive. I use candle wax on my saw blades and feel pretty good about that getting smeared around when the plate heats up in a vigorous cut, but for plane bodies I would be inclined to at least try SCJohnson floor wax. In summer time temps it is fairly easy to buff it hot enough to liquify, and then buff again tomorrow when the was has cooled back to soild. Plus it is super handy for drawer slides and lubricating wood screws.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Oct 2019
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    Maryland
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thomas Wilson View Post
    No dust needed to see your finger print. Water, air, salt from your skin, and very clean, unoxidized iron rusts very readily. Iron begins to rust at lower relative humidity than steel. Hence your blades are not rusting. Most oils will provide some protection. CRC 36 is supposed to be the best, according to a test by Fine Woodworking. The VCI (volatile corrosion inhibitor) paper that new planes are wrapped in is good for 6 months to a year if kept in a sealed container.

    You mentioned cleaning the rust off the sole with steel wool. That will work. Rubbing them on wood works too. With a nice LV plane, you should probably do that daily.
    here's a link to that Fine Woodworking test

    011227030.pdf (finewoodworking.com)

    I'm trying the non petroleum Moovitt, but it's too early to make a judgement.

    For those who don't use their tools frequently, you might consider putting them in a gasketed storage bin.

    here's one from ace, since covid the prices have gone up, maybe because the same materials were used in protective gear?
    Iris Weathertight 7.7 in. H x 15.7 in. W x 19.7 in. D Stackable Storage Box - Ace Hardware
    Last edited by Mike Soaper; 06-21-2021 at 12:18 PM. Reason: added info on gasketed bin
    Hobbyist woodworker
    Maryland

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    twomiles from the "peak of Ohio
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    Very simple in my shop....since it IS in a rather damp basement......a cheap paint brush....load a bit with 3in1 oil, swab the plane down, before it goes back onto a shelf....easy as can be.

    BTW: that Brush is about $0.98 + tax at Wall E World.....

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